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Friday, February 7, 2014

An Ode To The Doubters

To doubt, to debate, to negate, counter and argue is the
greatest virtue of human mind. It is a pity that we have long since forgotten
taking a position. Then, one might argue, why should one take a position- any
position? Why do I have to side with any truth which I have not discovered
myself.The people are divided into
large masses, a huge chunk of human sea, split by diverse conviction.Social media which was invented as a platform
to share one’s own convictions has long since been reduced to a virtual
battleground. A converse opinion is responded with a feral violence.

I do not feel happy anymore about
debates. They aren’t debates.There
can’t be any debate without decency. The world is fractured and it demands that
I lean to one side or the other.Why
must I surrender my right to be an individual and join a group to seek strength
in number? Why there are no debates which either converts my opponents or me?
We are fast turning into a world of non-believers. We are transforming into a
world of lambs, leaving it to the lord to be our shepherd. We bow every hour of
the day to our own invented lords. We shift from one group to the other and
scream loudly to prove our point. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his The
Beautiful and the Damned, “Once upon a time all the men of mind and genius in
the world became one belief- that is to say, of no belief.” I wonder, was he
speaking of some “once upon” time or was he speaking of the world that was to
be- that is today.

Beautiful is the world in which
free clouds of doubt float in the bright, open skies and questions rise,
unabated like beautiful kites in those skies. You do not win my vote by numbers;
I will not surrender my intellect to the larger group, to the largest and
shrillest mob. Didn’t inimitable Mark Twain wrote on siding with the mob, that “Whenever
you find yourself siding with the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” The
right to logic is the Prometheus fire. Nothing’s sacred, nothing is above
question. Why should we side- with this or with that? There is nothing given,
everything is to be derived. Let the greatest of the Gods be mocked, be question.

This age of lolling logic and
dead debate struggles for its voice and is keen to surrender to any imposter
who claims to be God, so lacking of self, have we become.Nobility has become so obscure that we are
thirsty for a drop of it. We pounce like wild dogs on any semblance of nobility
we see. We uphold every imposter as god and chant his name so loud that our
souls die overwhelmed with those chants. A sad smile declares the hollow
happiness we seek in servile obeisance.Something
dead smiles in those smiles and a stench of cowardice sits heavy over the pen.

Every leader runs the danger of
turning into a dictator and every follower runs the risk of turning into a fanatic.
We need to be observant for the right to question is the most sacred of all
human privileges. Nothing sacred, nothing above the question, including our own
selves- let that be the dictum of our generation. We are turning into a generation
of blank fanaticism. Angry waters of unquestioning faith and sub-human
servility gushes into the vacuum left by the cynicism of last generations. This
is worse since it pretends to be intellectual. Nothing stunts human growth than
pretended intellect. How can servility be intellectual ever? Intellect by
nature is iconoclast; it is the breaker of the current order.

We walk in columns, with our
silly smiles and blank stares and scream from our twitter timelines at anyone
who breaks the columns. We cling to slightest trace of nobility, so hungry we
are of the idea of lofty possibilities of human greatness. We cling with our
eyes shut tight as we do not want to see the cracks on the icons thus created. We
don’t write letters, not even e-mails. We post our thoughts- an extremely
passive act, which doesn’t want conversation, doesn’t invite discussion. We
merely want others to like what we post. And liking is so easy.A sad little button can be clicked to like,
at times, without reading. It is an grand play of narcissistic intellect and
passive persuasion. There was an inherent beauty in letter-writing as it was
based on a communication which moved in both directions. It called on us to
understand the contradicting thought, understand the person on the other end of
the conversation. Even if Ghalib might contend “Qasid ke aate aate main khat
kuch aur likh rakhun, main jaanta hoon who kya likhengey Jawaab main” (Let me
write another letter before the messenger returns with the reply, since I know
what she will write in response), there was an anticipation, a possibility, a
hope. Current modes of communication doesn’t allow such tentativeness, it
provokes no communications. It seeks surrender of the reason and whatever goes
under the pretense of communication is the competition of the loudest, the shrillest.
In the struggle between profundity and profanity, latter wins. Wisdom retreats
in silence with bruised dignity.

Logic is the only savior; debate is the only
meaning of being human. It is our own small sun which shines through foggy mornings.
We need to steal the light from it, question everything and welcome all
questions. Nothing is certain, no right way. As Nietzsche would say, “This is
my way. What is your way? There is nothing as THE way.” We need to search our
own truths and there mustn’t be any compulsion to side. Sometimes, we might
contradict our own position, but then I seek courage from Walt Whitman who
asked, “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am
large, I contain multitude.” It takes
immense courage to contradict one’s own past position, but then as I contend,
nothing is sacred. Our own position need to stand the scrutiny of truth. Let truth be our only measure. All nobility
sleeps in the graves and all great wars, already fought, all great truths,
already told.

The only hope for our generation is to keep churning in search of
newer truth which will emerge like elusive nectar. There is no easy truth. The
road to truth is winding and perilous. We have to walk those slopes of Vesuvius.
Every shining truth takes birth in dark shadows of hopeless search. It needs us
to pause, to contemplate to toy with the facts and let the truth emerge. This
isn’t a job to be done in hurry, it will take time, patience, and blood. We need to find our own truths which we need to hold on to against the mob which wants us to surrender it. That will be our greatest accomplishment- that is to "To be yourself in a world which is constantly trying to make ourselves someone else" as per Emerson- so true.

I
hope, this post is not only liked but responded with thoughts and
counter-thoughts. Let’s talk, let’s build a tribe of talkers. Let us converse.

You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left,) You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books, You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.- Walt Whitman

2 comments:

psethi@perfectrelations.com
said...

Hello,

My name is Priyanka and I am part of the Digital team at Perfect Relations. We have been working with the online community for various events and product/service reviews for our clients in the past. Our clientele ranges from popular Hotels, Hospitality brands, Lifestyle , FMCG, Corporate brands etc.

I would like to know if we can share an event invite with you for an International Theater festival for children.